The teen retailer, which was bought out of a Chapter 11 reorganization last month by a joint venture comprised of mall operators and a brand licensor, had hundreds of more profitable stores than originally thought, according to mall operator David Simon.

Simon kept 500 of Aeropostale’s 700 stores open — 200 more than first thought — after discovering those locations were in the black, Sandler O’Neill + Partners’ analyst Alexander Goldfarb wrote in a recent research report.

Simon’s comments, made public for the first time, came during a conference call with analysts on Oct. 27.

“Once they got in there and looked at the books, they realized that more stores were profitable,” Goldfarb said.